The care home liaison service is a multidisciplinary team of nurses and occupational therapists.The team offers interventions, using a co-ordinated holistic approach that helps care staff develop strategies and build competence and confidence to support residents with mental health needs.
Each care home has a designated community mental health nurse who works directly with the residents (as clinically appropriate) if they are a current service user of the Trust. We can also advise residents, not currently our patients, as to whether a referral to the Trust would be appropriate.
The service is based at the Juniper Centre and operates Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm. The team can be contacted on 0121 301 0950.
The aim of the service is to:
- Establish and foster improved working relationships with local partner organisations who have similar interests/functions in improving the quality of care homes (e.g. Birmingham City Council, Continuing Health Care Nursing Team, Birmingham Community Trust pharmacy department)
- Reduce the need for care homes to escalate care unnecessarily to A&E, nursing home setting, acute inpatient facility or consider discharging clients prior to exhausting a coordinated strategy to stabilise and improve the case concerns for both clients and carers
- Deliver well-being and recovery focussed interventions in the least restrictive care plan possible, in collaboration with the care home staff, clients families, Community Mental Health Teams and other contributors e.g. GP’s, district nurses, pharmacists
- Support service users in their transition from home or other setting to a care home environment
